Schalke's Di Matteo rules out specific Real marking

Schalke coach Roberto Di Matteo is wary of tactically singling out any particular Real Madrid players, such is their depth of talent.

Published

9 March 2015

Real Madrid's incredible strength in depth means Roberto Di Matteo has no plans to send his Schalke players out at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday with specific instructions to target individual members of the opposition.

Holders Real head into the second leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 clash looking to build on their 2-0 lead from the first encounter.

Cristiano Ronaldo netted in that game and has scored 39 goals in all competitions this season, but Di Matteo thinks it would be foolish to single out the Portugal star or any of his team-mates for any special treatment in order to claw a way back into the tie.

"Well, you know exactly that Real Madrid is a team with many strong individual players," said the Italian.

"If we play one on one against Real we won't succeed.

"We need to play well as a team and try to be well organized on the pitch to fight against the individual strength of our opponent.

"I think it doesn't make sense if we play Real Madrid one on one."

Di Matteo is under no illusions about the size of the task facing Schalke.

He added: "I think it's extremely difficult to turn a game like this in Madrid around.

"It's going to be a difficult task for us but we’ll have to try and push ourselves to the limit and show a good performance."